Today, House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) joined Congresswoman Linda Sánchez and 137 House Democrats in urging Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to confirm Tom Perez as the next Secretary of Labor. Earlier today, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee voted to approve his nomination, sending it to the full Senate for consideration.

"The Senate should waste no time in scheduling a vote to confirm Tom Perez as the next Secretary of Labor," stated Whip Hoyer. "America's workers deserve a Labor Department operating at full capacity, especially as our economic recovery moves forward. Mr. Perez is a highly qualified candidate who will bring great experience to his new role once confirmed. His approval by the Senate's Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee should come as no surprise to any who are aware of his stellar qualifications. I join in calling on Senate Republicans not to delay Mr. Perez's confirmation by the full Senate."

As you consider the nomination of Thomas E. Perez to serve as Secretary of Labor, we respectfully urge you to vote in favor of his confirmation.

Mr. Perez has a distinguished record of accomplishments and experience from his career in public service at the local, state and federal levels. Known by those who have worked with him for his consensus-building, collaborative approach to problem-solving, Mr. Perez would bring vigor to his new post that will serve the American economy well, by helping improve the skills of American workers to qualify for better-paying jobs and providing employers with a stronger workforce able to compete in the global market.

Mr. Perez first served in the Department of Justice under President Ronald Reagan and became a career attorney during the George H.W. Bush Administration. As a federal prosecutor for the Civil Rights Division, he prosecuted and supervised some of the Department's most high profile civil rights cases, including a hate crimes case in Texas involving a group of white supremacists who went on a deadly, racially motivated crime spree.

In his current role as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, Mr. Perez has turned around his Division and increased the Civil Rights Division's productivity. A Department of Justice Inspector General report released March 12 of this year confirmed that Mr. Perez has put reforms in place to restore merit-based hiring practices and that none of the decisions regarding enforcement of voting rights laws have been based on racial or partisan political considerations

Under Mr. Perez's leadership, the Civil Rights Division has increased prosecutions of human trafficking by 40 percent, convicted 74 percent more defendants on hate crimes charges, handled more new voting cases in 2012 than any year ever, won $50 million for service members whose homes were improperly foreclosed on while serving our nation in uniform overseas, and settled the three largest fair-lending cases in the history of the Fair Housing Act, recovering more money for victims in 2012 than in the previous 23 years combined. Mr. Perez achieved the Department's largest-ever disability-based housing discrimination settlement, worth $10.5 million.

Prior to his current role, Mr. Perez served as Maryland's Secretary of Labor, Licensing and Regulation at a critical time during the economic crisis, mitigating many of its worst impacts. With the input of business and labor leaders, Mr. Perez led efforts to reform Maryland's enforcement of state and federal wage protection laws. His collaborative approach has earned him praise from both business and labor leaders. Indeed, the Maryland Chamber of Commerce as well as labor unions have endorsed Mr. Perez's nomination as Secretary of Labor.

We believe that Mr. Perez's record of achievement, especially his proven ability to successfully lead a state's labor department, make him a strong candidate for Secretary of Labor. We therefore respectfully urge you to vote in favor of his confirmation in a timely fashion.